Filming for "Fracture"

Yesterday i was in Newcastle at Northumbria Uni filming for the animation i'm in. They're making it Sin City style, we act everything in front of a green screen, and then they animate over the top of us.
I saw some of the concept art, and they're making me look a bit like Goldie from Sin City, slightly in black and white, but with bright yellow/blond hair.
It was a very long day, especially as we were only filming one scene, and there were only six lines of dialogue. I'm back again tomorrow to film a different scene, with another of the personalities, (the film is about a schizophrenic guy).


Setting up the green screen

Tomorrow i'm also meeting with the zombie film guy, as the script has been re-written, and is now a different story altogether.

On a different note, i got a call from my agent, she told me that the lady from the Benfield Motors casting wanted to cast me in an ad for Oxford Note Paper. Me and Sam (Claypole) agreed to turn it down, as the ad would be used internationally for two years, but they only wanted to pay me £150, and i would be wearing the bottom half of a pink gorilla costume!
Sam told me that if i took a job like this for that amount of pay, it would look bad for me if another client asked her if i had previously done adverts, and they found out how much i was paid. It would be different if the advert was only regional, but it could be used in about 5 different countries.
So it's a no now.

48hours To Save The World!

Because our film won the Newcastle 48hr Film Competition last year, Laura and James were invited to take part in another 48hr competition, but this time online.
On Friday they were given the brief of "Save the Planet", and they had to include a camera. So we spent the weekend outside in the cold making another crazy film.
It felt a lot more stressful than last time, probably because we only had a camera until 1pm both days, which restricted us somewhat. Also, Beth (one of the other actors) was coming over from Newcastle, but the trains kept being delayed. And when she finally got to 'boro, she was rushed off to Redcar beach, and made to stand up to her waist in the North Sea, just when it was starting to snow!
The second day was better, i ended up playing a documentary film maker, and a vegatable growing vegan. Other characters in the film were a protest poet, an energy saving couch-potato, a Bob Geldof inspired musician, a superhero, and a guy who eats his own bogies, and many more.


Enjoy.

The fastest casting ever!

Today was the Benfield Motors advert casting. After a very confusing drive through the extensive one-way systems Newcastle has to offer, with a rather confused Satnav, me and Adrian (also of Claypole Management) finally made it to the odd, multicoloured housing estate where the studio was.
We went inside, were given a piece of paper each, told to write our name and aged, then the casting director took some photographs. And we left.
Is it just me, or did it all seem a tad pointless? We were also told that this wasn't the real casting, that would be on Monday, so why couldn't they just look our headshots on Spotlight? Our names are next to them too!
All i found out from today was that there might be a festival scene in the advert, so they liked my long hair.
We then successfully tackled the route home, having spent less than 10 minutes out of the car.

I'm back in Newcastle on Friday evening for a "production meeting" for Fracture, the animation. And i'm currently sculpting an empty eye socket for a zombie.

Anyone want to play a zombie??

Benfield Motors

Off to Newcastle again tomorrow for a casting. It's a small, regional commercial for a company called Benford Motors.
It's a bit of money and some professional experience, fingers crossed!

Apples Audition

On Wednesday (9th Feb) night, i was sent the address and script for an audition for the film adaptation of Apples by Richard Milward. So on Thursday i got myself over to Newcastle to audition for the part of Eve, the 16 year old Boro lass.
In my head, this film is going to be a mix between Skins, Shameless and Kidulthood, the the book was written by a guy from Middlesbrough, and was then turned into a play which toured the country, which i think was funded by the man whose children i am a nanny for!

When i got into the audition, i was met by Rob Earnshaw, a prominent northern casting director. I was told that i looked right for the part, and was given about three goes at going through the script, which was being filmed on a camcorder.
He told me i needed to emphasise the boro accent more, as i was "doing about a level 3 accent, but needed to try for a level 6 or 7."
But at least he recognised that i could do a Middlesbrough accent, and if i look right for the part, i really hope i get a call back!

It looks like they've given up auditioning people from all over the country as the middlesbrough accent is such a strange one. I think they've even started holding "cattle calls" in Middlesbrough, so they can acctualy find someone who sounds right!
So I doubt i will get a call back, but it's nice to dream!
Although it's a little worrying that this is the second audition my agent has sent me for where i would be reading for the part of a slightly slutty blonde from 'boro. Is she trying to tell be something?

Beating up a girl with makeup

Today i had been asked to do the makeup for my friends uni project, an anti-domestic violence advert/campaign. They sent me a picture they had found of a women with a grazed forehead, bloody nose, and black eye, and they wanted similar makeup.

I decided that instead of a bloody nose, i would give her a split lip. We joked that all there was in my makeup kit was a baseball bat and a few other weapons.


I was quite happy with the results, and apparently the makeup showed up quite well on the camera. I even did some fake mascara tears dripping down the girls face, it all worked nicely!

I love this month's horoscope for Aries!

Thought i'd share.